“I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”

— Bilbo Baggins, in J. R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring

I am writing this on September 22, the birthday of Bilbo Baggins (by Shire Reckoning). He was celebrating his 111th birthday when he spoke the words above—a cryptic statement that yielded only scattered clapping among the guests, as “most of them were trying to work it out and see if it came to a compliment.” The quote is made all the more confusing by the use of the three simple words “as well as.” Truth be told, these three words are often employed incorrectly by writers (but not by Tolkien).

Simple comparison

In one particular application—as a simple comparison in which the three words are used as three separate words, not as a phrase—the sentence construction is rather straightforward and generally correctly applied.

As an example, consider the following sentences:

• “I did as well as I expected.”
• “I played as well as I could play.”
• “I sang as well as anyone did.”
• “She dances as well as Becky.”
• “The CEO listens as well as he speaks.”

Each of these sentences involve direct comparisons, and in each the three words as well as act not as a unit but separate. In each, well acts as an adverb, modifying respectively “did,” “played,” “sang,” “dances,” and “listens”: I did well, I played well, I sang well, she dances well, the CEO listens well. The first as is an adverb that modifies well. The second as is a subordinate conjunction that starts the dependent clause, connecting the two parts of the sentence. So, in other words, an adverb, and adverb, and a subordinate conjunction.

This is the sense that Tokien uses the three words in the quote above.

You can substitute other adverbs for well, such as “poorly” or “weakly” or “smoothly” and the sentence works just fine, for well is just one of three separate words and not a unit (phrase).

Note that “as well as” in this case does not take a comma. The second “as” is a subordinating conjunction, and subordinating conjunctions do not require commas when appearing in the middle of sentences.

Phrasal preposition

It is when the three words constitute one unit—specifically a phrasal preposition—that problems often arise, both in terms of the intended meaning and verb tense.

Consider the following sentences:

• “French is spoken in France, as well as in the Wallonia region of Belgium.”
• “Bill, as well as Ralph and Robert, want to attend.”
• “She broke her high heels, as well as ruined her dress.”
• “Excessive alcohol consumption is unhealthy, as well as gives you a headache.”

In each of these cases, “as well as” acts as one unit, a phrasal preposition. And in each case the sentence is poorly, even incorrectly, constructed.

A phrasal preposition (compound preposition, complex preposition) is two or more words used as a prepositional unit; in other words, a series of words (phrase) that link and relate the object of the preposition to the rest of the sentence. In addition to “as well as,” other examples include “by means of,” “contrary to,” “for the sake of,” “in spite of,” and “instead of.”

First mistake: poor sentence structure

The first mistake, poor sentence structure, can be seen in the first example: “French is spoken in France, as well as in the Wallonia region of Belgium.” The prepositional phrase “as well as” is not a synonym for “and.” The conjunction “and” suggests that the connected items are equal. The prepositional phrase “as well as” indicates that one of the items deserves emphasis—the element that precedes as well as.

In this particular case, unequal emphasis is placed on the noun France. It would be equivalent to restating the sentence as “Not only is French spoken in the Wallonia region of Belgium, but it is also spoken in France.” Wow, French is spoken in France. Big surprise there. It is hardly likely this is what the author intended.

In using the phrasal preposition as well as it is important to remember that there is stronger emphasis on the expression preceding the phrasal preposition. “A, as well as B, …” can be rewritten as “Not only B, but also A.” 

The author’s actual intent would probably best be stated as: “As well as in France, French is spoken in the Wallonia region of Belgium” or “French is spoken in the Wallonia region of Belgium, as well as in France.”

Another way of viewing this is to substitute the entire phrasal preposition as well as with a preposition such as besides or in addition to, which perhaps more easily exhibits the desired emphasis: “In addition to France, French is spoken in the Wallonia region of Belgium,” or “Besides France, French is spoken in the Wallonia region of Belgium,” Furthermore, if you can substitute in addition to for as well as, you know that you have a phrasal preposition.

Of course, one could also formulate the sentence as “French is spoken in France and the Wallonia region of Belgium” and be grammatically correct. However, one might think such wording is misleading as it appears exclusionary of the many other parts of the world that speak French.

As another example, consider the sentence: “The full-time teachers, as well as the adjunct teachers, came to the faculty meeting.” In this case, the impression is given that the surprise (the emphasis) is that the full-time teachers came.  This is equivalent to saying “Not only the adjunct teachers, but also the full-time teachers came to the faculty meeting.” I suspect the writer really wants to emphasize that the adjunct teachers came to the faculty meeting; in other words, “The adjunct teachers, as well as the full-time teachers, came to the faculty meeting.” Or, stated another way, “In addition to the full-time teachers, the adjunct teachers came to the faculty meeting.”

Second mistake: verb tense

Look at the second example in this section: “Bill, as well as Ralph and Robert, want to attend.”

At first glance, it may seem to be correct. The problem is that when as well as serves as a phrasal preposition, the verb needs to agree with the noun preceding as well as. Although there are three people listed in the sentence—Bill, Ralph, and Robert—the verb has to agree with the single subject, Bill. The correct wording would be “Bill, as well as Ralph and Robert, wants to attend.” In fact, the entire phrase “as well as Ralph and Robert” is a non-essential phrase; one can remove that phrase or put it in parentheses and the sentence still makes sense: “Bill wants to attend.”

Note how The Chicago Manual of Style (2020 online version) addresses this issue in section 5.142: “Misleading connectives—’as well as,’ ‘along with,’ ‘together with,’ and the like”:

[Some authorities would disagree with the “BETTER” formulation, arguing that the clause “as well as her bridesmaids” is a non-restrictive or non-essential clause, and thus should be separated by commas: “The bride, as well as her bridesmaids, was dressed in mauve.” Note also that the “BEST” formulation actually changes what is being emphasized, from an emphasis on the bride to an equal emphasis on the bride and the bridesmaids. See the section below on Conjunction: “and”? for further elaboration.]

Let’s also consider the third and fourth examples above: “She broke her shoes, as well as ruined her dress,” and “Excessive alcohol consumption is unhealthy, as well as gives you a headache.”

What is wrong with those sentences?

At first glance, these also seem correct. However, verbs after the “as well as” should be in the “…ing” form. These sentence would be rendered properly as “She broke her high heels, as well as ruining her dress,” and “”Excessive alcohol consumption is unhealthy, as well as giving you a headache.” If you rewrite the sentence starting with the phrasal preposition, the correct use of the “…ing” form becomes more apparent: “As well as ruining her dress, she broke her high heels” and “As well as giving you a headache, excessive alcohol consumption is unhealthy.”

Conjunction “and”?

This lack of equivalency also can be seen in the earlier-cited example from the Chicago Manual of Style, where the following was seen as a POOR construction: “The bride as well as her bridesmaids were dressed in mauve.” If as well as could be substituted with and then this construction would indeed take the plural verb, rather than the BETTER construction with a singular verb: “The bride as well as her bridesmaids was dressed in mauve.”

Quite frankly, many authorities do not find it acceptable to use “as well as” as a coordinating conjunction and thus find it unacceptable for this phrase to be used to make a compound subject.

Yet, such a usage is common in spoken English, such as “He as well as his mother go to college” and “Sarah as well as her sister sing in the choir.”

How then should this be handled? Given the evolution of the English language, will future authorities find consensus on as well as being used as a coordinating conjunction with equivalency to and?

In general, given the distaste some authorities have for using “as well as” as a coordinating conjunction, it is probably better to use “and” when you wish to create a compound subject.

Furthermore, when as well as is being used as a phrasal preposition, giving unequal emphasis to the elements, my recommendation is to use commas to make clear that fact, separating out that non-essential clause. The above examples would then be written as “He, as well as his mother, goes to college” and “Sarah, as well as her sister, sings in the choir.” Without the commas, one could make the case for the clause being considered essential, and equivalent to “and”—thus requiring the plural verb. The use of commas for the non-essential, as well as clauses is generally emphasized by authorities anyway (contrary to the Chicago Manual of Style “BETTER” example above).

Keep in mind that one can always rewrite sentences with as well as using and if one want to give equal emphasis to the elements. For example, one can rewrite “He is a thief, as well as a bad dancer,” as “He is a thief and a bad dancer.”

Final point

Note that the use of a comma can completely change a sentence from a comparative one to a phrasal preposition.

• I like Bill as well as Ed.  (I like Bill as much as I like Ed:  an equivalent amount)
• I like Bill, as well as Ed.  (Not only do I like Ed, but I also like Bill).

• I swim as well as I run. (I am as good at swimming as I am at running.)
• I swim, as well as I run. (Not only do I run, but I also swim.)